The Mistry innings: Captain gets his eye in

The consensus view about Mistry so far is this: He is an excellent numbers man, very hard-nosed in the way he approaches things, a voracious reader, someone willing to put a premium on innovation and always willing to roll up his sleeves.

His efforts are also directed at consolidating and getting more from existing businesses.

If tough decisions are the order of the day, so be it.

Consider his decision to prompt the Tata Steel management to announce a $1.6-billion write-down, an acknowledgement that it overpaid for Corus, in 2006.

Also, last month, he decided to halt the group’s ego trip on Orient-Express, abandoning the nearly $1.2-billion bid for the Bermuda-based hospitality company amidst a slowdown in global demand for luxury travel.

The Mistry innings: Captain gets his eye in

“Mistry is now in consolidation mode, while Tata was expansionist. Both strategies are right for their times,” adds Mody, who has worked closely with the Tatas, advising them on its several mergers and acquisitions.

She is bang-on.

Apart from Tata Steel, two other companies, Tata Chemicals and Indian Hotels, also wrote down investments.

Mistry, of course, has quite a few on his to-fix list.

That includes underperformers such as the domestic arm of Tata Motors, Tata Steel and Tata Power.

The chairman obviously believes evolution, rather than revolution, is the way to drive forward.

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Image: Ratan Tata (R) and Tata Group Chairman Cyrus Mistry attend the launch of a new website for tech superstore Croma in Mumbai.Photographs: Vivek Prakash/Reuters

The Mistry innings: Captain gets his eye in

Just before retirement last year, Ratan Tata had famously said he would not allow his shadow to hang over Bombay House like a ghost walking the corridors.

RNT, as he is known within Bombay House, has walked the talk.

But has that slowed his pace?

Hardly.

Consider the following:

Unlike his predecessor, JRD Tata, who in 1991 handed over to him the chairmanship of Tata Sons, as well as control of the trusts, RNT continues to retain control of the latter, which together control around 66 per cent of the shares of Tata Sons. As a custodian, he anyway keeps a close watch on the proceedings in the group

He has mega plans for the Tata trusts in the areas of rural development, water conservation, nutrition for children and pregnant women, as by his own admission, he doesn’t believe in ‘patchwork philanthropy’

He is president of the Court of the Indian Institute of Science and chairman of the Council of Management of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. Besides, he serves on the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade and Industry